Concierge Medicine - Every Healthcare Marketer’s Dream
- Posted by Julia Shea on November 16th, 2007
filed in Healthcare Marketing |
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Half-hour appointments where your doctor actually sits down, looks into your eyes and listens to all of your problems without interruption. House calls. Same-day appointments. Nicer, uncrowded reception areas (not “waiting rooms” as waiting is a no-no). Cell phone and email access to your doc. Even travel to your locale if you become ill or injured while away.
Do all those competitive advantages seem too operationally good to be true? Well, they aren’t, as long as you don’t mind paying. Concierge medicine, or “boutique” medicine as it’s often called, ranges in an annual retainer fee of $1500 to $20,000. But providers and takers alike are quite taken with it. Concierge docs are so booked, and with satisifed repeat customers, that it’s often hard to get in. Doctors limit their patient load to about 600 (down from typical 2500), allowing them to see fewer, (richer), patients. They make more. They feel better about life. And so do their patients. Critics argue this will hamper Medicare patients’ ability to find a primary care doctor. Already true in Naples FLA. And less than 8% of med school grads chose family medicine this year, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. However, the Government Accountability Office issued a report in 2005 stating that concierge medicine was not yet a problem, just something to be monitored.
I think it’s a free country and there is a place for concierge medicine. (It’s why private pay Canadian patients flock to the states to get more immediate care.) But I also think it’s sad that today’s healthcare system doesn’t allow for these Dr. Welby type amenities to occur naturally. Remember Doc on Gunsmoke? Okay, I’m dating myself and actually I’m quite grateful doctors are no longer removing those goll-durn bullets with just a swig of whiskey… but does YOUR doctor throw on her boots and ride across town when you have aches and pains? It’s that very personal doctor-patient relationship, the genuine caring, bedside manner, that is truly hard to find. It’s frustrating for both doctor and patient to be rushed through the system. And a shame that what used to be more of a given is now more of a luxury for the privileged few.
November 17th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Dr. Lawrence Brownlee, Tustin, Orange County, California started a Concierge Practice at the request of some of his patients. The patients are happier, Lawrence Brownlee, MD has more time to spend with each patient. He loves being a doctor!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:32 am
I think it is great when the practice of medicine is in the control of those who are hands on, i.e. doctors and nurses. It is a good thing when patient needs and profits are not mutually exclusive.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
As a whole, I don’t think it does any good for various specialties to be finger-pointing at each other. That is not where the problems lie. It’s with the patients themselves.Everyone wants concierge medicine at no extra charge. So many believe that their particular problem demands immediate attention. They want to wait until 10pm on a Friday night, and then be seen. NOW. Scheduling doctor appointments is a hassle, so they wait until some routine complaint seems more acute, then want to be seen. NOW.